Rosh Hashanah is one of the most significant holidays in the Jewish calendar. Observed on the 1st and 2nd of Tishrei — the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar — it marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year and opens a ten-day period of introspection known as the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe), culminating in Yom Kippur.
Shanah Tovah u'Metukah — "A good and sweet new year"
What Is Rosh Hashanah?
According to Jewish tradition, Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the first human being, Adam — making it the birthday of humanity itself. It is simultaneously a day of joy (a festival with festive meals and prayer) and a day of solemn judgment. Jewish teaching holds that on Rosh Hashanah, God opens the Book of Life and writes down each person's fate for the coming year, sealing it shut on Yom Kippur.
The holiday is also called Yom HaDin (Day of Judgment), Yom HaZikaron (Day of Remembrance), and Yom Teruah (Day of the Shofar Blast) — names that reflect its deep layers of meaning.
The Shofar: The Sound of Rosh Hashanah
The most iconic ritual of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the shofar — a ram's horn trumpet. The Torah commands: "You shall sound the shofar on the seventh month" (Leviticus 23:24). The congregation listens to one hundred shofar blasts over the course of the holiday morning prayers.
There are three distinct shofar sounds:
- Tekiah — a long, steady blast (representing wholeness)
- Shevarim — three medium broken blasts (representing the cry of a weeping heart)
- Teruah — nine short, staccato blasts (representing an alarm call to awaken the soul)
The shofar's piercing sound is meant to wake us from spiritual slumber and call us to honest self-examination before the divine throne.
Rosh Hashanah Prayers and Synagogue
Rosh Hashanah features some of the longest and most elaborate prayer services of the Jewish year. The Machzor — a special High Holiday prayer book — guides worshippers through powerful liturgical poems (piyutim) and central prayers unique to this season.
The heart of the Rosh Hashanah Musaf service is the three-part prayer cycle of Malchuyot (Kingship), Zichronot (Remembrances), and Shofarot (Shofar blasts) — each accompanied by biblical verses and a shofar call. The solemn prayer Unetaneh Tokef ("Let us declare the power of this day") is among the most emotionally powerful of all Jewish prayers.
Tashlich: Casting Sins into the Water
On the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah (or the second day, if the first falls on Shabbat), many Jewish communities perform Tashlich — walking to a body of natural water and symbolically casting their sins into it, inspired by the verse: "You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). Pockets are emptied or bread crumbs are thrown into the water as a tangible act of letting go of the past year's wrongdoings.
Rosh Hashanah Foods and Customs
Food plays a central role in Rosh Hashanah celebrations. Several foods are eaten as symbolic "simanim" (signs or omens) for a sweet new year:
- Apples and honey — the most iconic symbol, eaten to invoke a sweet year
- Round challah — the braided bread is round rather than braided, symbolizing the cycle of the year
- Pomegranate — whose seeds represent the 613 commandments
- Fish head or ram's head — eaten to become the "head, not the tail"
- Dates, leeks, beets, and carrots — each paired with a short Hebrew blessing-pun for the new year
The festive meals on Rosh Hashanah are joyful family gatherings, full of singing, good food, and heartfelt wishes for one another.
Greetings for Rosh Hashanah
The traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting is:
L'Shanah Tovah Tikateiv v'Teikhateim
"May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year" (said before Yom Kippur)
The shorter form Shanah Tovah ("Good Year") is used throughout the season. After Rosh Hashanah, many greet each other with Gemar Chatimah Tovah — "May you be sealed for a good final judgment."
Rosh Hashanah in the Hebrew Calendar
Rosh Hashanah falls on 1 Tishrei — which also makes it unusual in that it is the only Jewish holiday that occurs on Rosh Chodesh (the new month). The Torah actually calls the seventh month (Tishrei) by that number, without naming it "Rosh Hashanah" explicitly — the name comes from rabbinic tradition. The holiday is always two days, even in Israel (where most other diaspora two-day holidays are one day), because in ancient times there was uncertainty about exactly when the new moon was sighted.
The Ten Days of Repentance
Rosh Hashanah opens the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah — the Ten Days of Repentance — that end on Yom Kippur. These ten days are considered a special window of divine openness, a time when repentance (teshuvah), prayer (tefillah), and charity (tzedakah) can avert negative decrees and bring healing to the soul and community.
"On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on the fast of Yom Kippur it is sealed — who shall live and who shall die..."
— from the Unetaneh Tokef prayer
Whether you observe Rosh Hashanah in a synagogue, around a festive table, or simply with a moment of quiet reflection, this ancient holiday invites every human being to pause, look inward, and begin again. Shanah Tovah!